Get ready to cozy up with page-turning thrillers that solve old cold cases. There’s little more satisfying than when a character solves a mystery that’s haunted them and their town for years, putting together clues and turning lies on their head. In our second thriller, When She Disappeared, we explore the case of popular high school senior, Jessie Germaine, who has been missing for 15 years, only for her body to then be discovered at the bottom of a local swimming hole. Our protagonist Margo, Jessie’s childhood best friend, teams up with a documentary crew that comes to their small mountain town hoping to shine a light on the dark mystery. We loved exploring the idea of this big secret going unsolved for so long in a town where everyone knows everyone, yet they all have something to hide.
Here are five other thrillers that explore cold cases coming back to life after years of the unknown.
In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead is a psychological thrill ride that combines fascinating relationship dynamics with a haunting murder on a college campus. Now, those whose lives were turned upside down by the murder are back on campus for their class reunion, haunted by old ghosts everywhere they turn. Alternating between multiple timelines to carefully unravel the web of lies each character has left behind in a group of so-called best friends, Winstead delivers mesmerizing pacing in this exciting “whodunnit” that leaves you second guessing motives every step of the way. Even after the mystery is finally solved…the satisfying conclusion will leave you breathless.
The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor explores not just one, but three cold cases: the murder of a high school girl, the poisoning of a dog, and the brutal attack on a pastor that leaves him catatonic. The story goes back and forth in time from the 80’s with a group of childhood friends who use a secret code, scrawling stickmen in different colors to pass hidden messages to one another, to present day, where they reconnect after they’ve each received a disturbing note with a scrawled stickman. When one of them dies mysteriously, only our main character, Eddie, believes it was murder. In trying to figure out who’s leaving the notes, Eddie must delve back into the original crimes and uncover the culprit from so long ago. This stunning psychological debut is a must read for solving cold cases.
The Mentor by Lee Matthew Goldberg may need a trigger warning for graphic violence but is well worth the read. This incredible plot follows Ryan, a rising star at a big publishing house, and alternates with his aging college mentor, William. When the two reconnect after many years, William asks Ryan to consider publishing his novel, his magnum opus. While Ryan is ecstatic to give a break to the man who did so much for him, the minute he dives into the manuscript he realizes the book is the most depraved thing he’s ever read. Under pressure from his girlfriend and William to give the book a chance, Ryan reluctantly agrees to finish the book. But by midway through, it’s clear William’s book is outlining the kidnapping and murder of Ryan’s former girlfriend who disappeared in college. Goldberg expertly creates a disturbing psychological tale of murder and revenge to satisfy even the savviest mystery readers.
The Dead Season by Tessa Wegart is the second in her Shana Merchant detective series but could be read as a standalone. After Shana survives being kidnapped by the serial killer, Blake Bram, The Dead Season picks up when Shana is days away from her psych evaluation to rejoin the police force. Just getting her life back together, Shana is shocked when the body of her uncle, who disappeared when Shana was 13 years old, is discovered. Everyone believed he was a deadbeat dad who’d abandoned his family. But the truth was, he never made it out of town. When a young boy is kidnapped, Bram reappears to manipulate Shana into investigating her uncle’s murder, or else the blood of the missing child is on her hands. Stepping back in time to relive old family dramas, Shana must race against the clock to find out what happened to her uncle so many years ago.
Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell is a moving family drama that simultaneously pulls at your heartstrings and sends a chill down your spine. After 15-year-old Ellie Mack, the golden child of her family, disappears, they are left to pick up the pieces. Through the darkness and the eventual discovery of Ellie’s remains, they create new relationships and try to mend the deep hole in their hearts from their loss. Navigating these new relationships 10 years after Ellie’s disappearance, her mother, Laurel, meets a new man and his own daughter…who looks exactly like Ellie as a child. Forging connections and asking uncomfortable questions, Laurel is determined to uncover the truth of what happened to her daughter.
When She Disappeared by Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry. (HarperCollins) Out Now
'On May 26, 2004, Jessie Germaine rode her bike into the forest and disappeared...into thin air.' Margo hasn't been back to Lake Moss since her friend went missing. But as she returns, the news breaks. Her hometown's swimming hole has been Jessie's grave for fifteen years. Digging out her old diary, and steeling herself to face unfriendly ghosts from her past, Margo sets out to help a documentary crew as they return to investigate the infamous case the police bungled. In a town where everyone knows everyone, the killer is certain to be close to home. But the question is: How close?
More information about both authors can be found on their website. You can also find them on Facebook. You can also find them both on Twitter @Steph_Mullin and @NicoleAMabry
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